Mundus Nordic Green News – 15 March, 2021

Northvolt receives giant battery order from Volkswagen

The German carmaker has placed an order for batteries worth $14 billion, in a new step in the partnership between Northvolt and the Volkswagen Group. (DagensMiljöTeknik)

Finland’s Neste chooses Rotterdam as the site for its next global-scale renewable product refinery

Neste has carried out a thorough investigation of locations Porvoo in Finland and Rotterdam in the Netherlands to increase the production capacity of renewable products in Europe. Now it has announced that cost differences between the two locations speak decisively in Rotterdam's advantage, especially logistics costs, site-specific construction costs and the availability of low-emission hydrogen. 

Neste's goal is for the board to be able to make a final investment decision by the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. But Neste says that it will still make large investments in Finland, and especially in Porvoo, driven by their commitment to achieve carbon neutral production by 2035. Finland is, and will continue to be, the company's hub for research, development and innovation, and Neste continues to invest in future technologies. (press release)

Chemical plastic recycling opens up new circular possibilities

Chemical recycling can help a circular economy and at the same time be at the forefront of a completely new global and sustainable industry. But to succeed, urgent political decisions and a gathering of strength from the business community are needed, says Mark Meier, CEO of BASF Nordic / Baltic.

According to Meier, although at present, chemical recycling is a small percentage of the total plastic recycling, the potential is for chemical recycling to reach a global plastic recycling rate of 50% by 2030. Today’s limits are mainly due to the fact that products with several different types of plastic and mixed materials with non-plastic materials cannot be recycled mechanically, and waste is incinerated instead. But with chemical recycling, more types of plastic can be turned into recycled resources, which in turn can end the circular economy. The processes in chemical recycling break down polymer chains in the plastic into small components, from which completely new plastic can be manufactured, increasing circularity. (Aktuell Hållbarhet)

Electricity shortage threatens Gothenburg - giant investments in danger

Government investment of several billion kronor in the electricity grid is needed to secure the electricity supply in the Gothenburg region, according to Göteborg Energi, which warns that future investments of national importance are threatened. According to Alf Engqvist, CEO of Göteborg Energi “We have made new analyzes that clearly show that the electricity network capacity in the Gothenburg region must be greatly expanded. If we do not act now by expanding the electricity grid in time, the necessary restructuring of the transport sector and industry will be impossible to implement. The same applies to future investments in, for example, hydrogen.” (Dagens Industri)

Heavy fall for Norwegian cleantech stocks

The main index on the Oslo Stock Exchange started the week up 0.24% on Monday, but three of the companies out of Aker were amongst the biggest losers. Aker Clean Hydrogen was down 8%, taking its total loss to 20% since it listed last week. Aker Horizons, Aker Offshore Wind and Quantafuel were also down around 8% on Monday. (E24)

Swedish Energy Agency looking for companies with interest in Germany

The Swedish Energy Agency is looking for SMEs with an interest in green energy opportunities in the German market. The Swedish-German Cleantech Platform program has opened for applications, the last day to apply is 15 May. On April 22, a webinar by the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Germany Trade and Invest will be organized for companies interested in applying to the program. (press release)

Danish start-up steals Vattenfall Denmark boss

Greentech company, Stiesdal has raised a triple-digit million amount, and growth is now continuing with the employment of Vattenfall's Danish country manager. (Cleantech Watch)

Large quantities of packaged food waste converted into biogas and manure

VafabMiljö in Västerås has upgraded its biogas plant, which means that it can now receive around 15 tonne/day of packaged food waste for the production of biogas and biofertilizer. With the upgrade, food waste in glass packaging can now also be accepted.

The packaged food waste is now crushed and treated in the plant before it is separated from the packaging. One of the big challenges is to get customers to sort correctly so that the reception of the waste is as good as possible. Separating food waste from glass packaging is currently done by hand by VafabMiljö's staff, in the future it is planned to be done mechanically. (Energi Press)

PowerCell Sweden receives follow-up orders for fuel cell systems from British aviation start-up

Last year, ZeroAvia completed the world's first hydrogen electric flight with a commercial plane. The plane, a 6-seater Piper Malibu, performed an 8-minute flight, reaching an altitude of about 300 meters and a speed of just over 180 kilometers per hour via a driveline where ZeroAvia had integrated a fuel cell system.

ZeroAvia is now following up by placing an order for additional MS-100 fuel cell systems. Andreas Bodén, sales manager for PowerCell Sweden commented "ZeroAvia has shown that hydrogen-electric and emission-free flying is a possibility and we have shown that the technology is here and now and that it works. The aviation industry is now going through a phase where different technologies are being tested to validate the technology's possibilities. to play a significant role in the change in aviation". (Be Quoted)

What we’re reading

• Electricity will beat hydrogen in the household price war (RenewEconomy)